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Nasser Hussain yesterday hailed the emerging stars of England after the weary winter schedule ended with defeat in the final Test against New Zealand.

Both Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff made impressive strides and young wicketkeeper James Foster has begun to show signs of progress after an inconsistent start.

England though, having led the series from the outset with their victory in the first Test at Christchurch and having dominated the drawn second Test in Wellington, will head for home today feeling aggrieved their efforts did not result in greater reward.

But, just like India before Christmas when they failed to win in Ahmedabad and Bangalore after impressive performances and slid to a 1-0 series deficit, they were unable to translate superiority into results.

It means they return still searching for their first series victory since Sri Lanka over a year ago, but having unearthed several young players who will feature strongly in their future.

Hussain was pleased with the progress made by Hoggard, Flintoff and Durham University student Foster.

"The young lads have progressed immeasurably," he said.

"Players like Flintoff, Hoggard and the young lads that are coming in and doing well . . . it has got to be good for English cricket.

"Their heart and effort and the way they have stuck to the plans have been very good and they probably deserved a lot more from this series.

"If it was just down to heart and effort and attitude, but there are other things and this New Zealand side are very resilient as we've always known. They are a very similar side to us, they're hard to break down and in a three-match series we have to be at our best to beat sides. We were just off for maybe two hours in this game and we got nailed."

They began the final day probably always as underdogs with New Zealand declaring overnight to leave England a victory target of 312 in a minimum of 105 overs.

Deciding attack was the best form of defence on an increasingly inconsistent wicket, the tourists worried New Zealand with the pace of their innings and had progressed a third of the way to their target in only 27 overs before the wicket took control.

As soon as Nathan Astle removed Mark Butcher, who fended a sharply-lifting full-length delivery to point, two more wickets fell in the next eight deliveries and from that moment on England were struggling to save the game and the series.

"We chatted this morning and we said that anyone who batted with positive intent did well on that wicket like Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, myself and Thorpe," said Hussain.

"Anyone who went out and just pushed and prodded had not been as successful so we said to have positive intent and run well. We played pretty well but the wicket got a bit fruity at one point and that cost us a little bit.

"The defensive shots were just as dangerous as the positive shots, but we were never really going for it or not going for it - it was just the best way to get runs on that wicket rather than say we're going to bat for 105 overs and try and see out the day."

But for a determined 49-run partnership between Hussain and Foster, which took England to within 108 runs of victory, the 78-run margin of victory would have been far greater.

But once Foster edged Andre Adams behind to wicketkeeper Adam Parore, Hussain fell two overs later when he gave a diving return catch off a leading edge, ending nearly three hours of defiance at the crease from England's captain for a brilliant 82.

With that, England's winter was almost complete and although the tail-end contributed a further 23 runs, it merely delayed New Zealand's victory before the tourists were finally dismissed for 160.